DPS To Provide Free Meals For All K-12 Students
DETROIT (WWJ) - Starting this fall, all Detroit Public Schools students in grades K-12 will receive breakfast, lunch and snacks at no charge in an effort to ensure all children receive healthy meals, regardless of income.
The effort is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Community Eligibility Option Program, which will be piloted starting with the 2011-2012 school year. Michigan was one of three states selected to participate in the pilot program. Schools and districts in Michigan may participate if at least 40 percent of their students are entitled to public assistance.
One of the goals of the program is to eliminate the stigma that students feel when they get a free lunch, as opposed to paying cash, according to DPS Chief Operating Officer Mark Schrupp. He said the schools are hopeful that sending all students through the lunch line without having to pay will make it harder to identify low-income students and they will be less likely to skip meals.
In the past, students from low-income households were required to fill out meal benefit application forms, which collected valuable income data. Those forms are no longer required, but DPS is still requesting that families complete a supplemental student services survey to ensure that children, schools and the district will continue to receive millions of dollars in benefits and resources from the state and federal governments, as well as private grants.
Among the benefits and services that are still dependent on the district collecting income data include free tutoring, afterschool programs and field trips; extra teacher aides and other specialized staff for classrooms; classroom technology, such as computers, white boards and the Internet; transportation assistance; free summer school; free college testing and waiver of college application fees.
The Community Eligibility Option is among the early reforms enacted under President Barack Obama's Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which authorized the USDA to select up to three states to test the option in School Year 2011-12. The option will be offered to more states in successive years, and will be available to all states beginning School Year 2014-15.
The USDA selected states to participate by looking at the prevalence of high-poverty areas and strong Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program performance. Ten states were chosen to apply for the initial year, and Illinois, Kentucky and Michigan were ultimately selected to roll out the pilot program.
